Tag Archive | "Brouillette"

The Washington Capitals played three games this week and allowed only three goals getting super net minding from Michal Neuvirth on Tuesday in a 1-0 loss to the Islanders and then Braden Holtby in a 4-2 victory on Thursday against Winnipeg and a shutout of the New Jersey Devils on Saturday in a 3-0 win.

In all three contests the goaltenders did their job and held the Capitals in the game. Unfortunately, Washington was only able to win two of those three contests.

Goaltending is not the major issue in Washington. Holtby, Neuvirth, and even Philip Grubauer have all played well for the Caps this season. If there is an issue on this team, it’s on inconsistent defensive zone play and up front, where scoring, outside of Alexander Ovechkin, has been tough to find.

But back to the goalies, and specifically, Holtby. The young netminder has been very good in his short career with Washington and #70 nearly carried his club to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2012. Last year, Braden had a tough game seven against the Rangers, but let’s be honest, the Capitals lost that series because they couldn’t put the biscuit in the basket, not due to the play of Holtby.

Fast forward to this season where Holtby came out of the gate playing well behind a very young and suspect defense. Then starting with a loss to Pittsburgh in late November, things kind of went off of the rails for the Saskatchewan native. There was talk of the coaching staff trying to change the way Holtby played with a focus on him not being so aggressive and his positioning being deeper in his cage. It was a big change for the goalie and he went into a tailspin. Suddenly longer range shots were getting by him and compounding the problem was a defense that gave up too many odd man rushes and often screened their goalie or deflected shots, making not playing the angles as much more of a liability.

But in some recent relief appearances and then the two games this week, #70 was back to his “original” self. After his third shutout of this season on Saturday, I asked Holtby what was going on and if the talk of changing his game was true.

“There’s been talk of it from the start of the year to try and change things. The last two games I’ve just played like what’s got me here. So Olie and I are really getting back to our basics and it’s working out,” said Holtby.

Clearly Holtby, in his response to me, was not comfortable with the different style. The coaches were trying to make adjustments, perhaps because the defense was so green, but they clearly weren’t working for a guy this team believes is their number one goalie long term. Basically, they traded away Semyon Varlamov, who just signed a five year $30M contract with Colorado and will be starting for Team Russia in next week’s Olympics, to give the cage to Holtby.

A coach’s job is to try and make a player perform at peak efficiency, but sometimes they can over think a situation. There aren’t many goalies that have the ability to play deep in their net and be successful like Henrik Lundqvist is able to do on a regular basis. In an interview on Sirius XM radio just this week, Calgary Flames Director of Amateur Scouting, Tod Button, stated what I just wrote about Lundqvist. Button basically said that Lundqvist is the exception to the rule when talking about what the Flames are doing with their young up and coming goalie, Joni Ortio. Button said that a lot of the European goalies play that “deeper in the net” style but in the NHL, the shooters are so good that they’ll eat you up, so you have to teach them to be more aggressive.

Holtby was always an aggressive goalie and the direction the Caps were going with him this year was to be less that way. It wasn’t working. But credit both Holtby and Olie Kolzig for working through this and getting #70 back to doing what is most comfortable for him. Based on the way Holtby played this week and has played in the past before the style changes, and given what Button stated (and it is a common thought around the league), letting Holtby be Holtby makes the most sense.

On Saturday, Holtby was the primary reason the Caps won. The Devils had 11 of the first 16 shots on goal and #70 made some big stops, including a two on one early on. I asked Braden what his toughest save of the night was and if it was that stop on the odd man rush. He said that was a good one but it wasn’t as difficult and you might think.

“Those look harder than they actually are if your d-man plays them right like they did and chooses to take away one, the shot or the pass. He chose the shot so I knew he was passing it, which makes it a lot easier on me,” stated Holtby on the sequence that led to a super left pad save.

Holtby did say that New Jersey did a good job of generating traffic and he did get some breaks. Patrick Elias had a golden chance in front in period two but somehow shot the puck wide.

“They put a lot of traffic in front, though, they are right on top of me all night, so a couple of lucky bounces and fighting through screens,” said Holtby describing the challenge he faced with the Devils on Saturday.

Holtby was certainly the number one star, but the other goalie, Cory Schneider, was good too. It took a shot from Julien Brouillette through traffic to beat a goalie many felt, including me, should be on Team USA next week. The goal was the young defensemen’s first in the NHL and it was all the Caps needed, although Martin Erat (1st goal of the year) and Troy Brouwer added empty net tallies.

This was a win the Capitals had to have heading into the Olympic break. They trail the 3rd place Philadelphia Flyers by three points with 23 games to go. The Capitals won their first Metropolitan Division game in their last eight tries to keep pace. The schedule gets extremely tough in March so the Capitals had to get at least six of the eight points on this recent four game homestand. They did that, primarily due to good goaltending from Holtby and Neuvirth.

The Caps will need both, and especially Holtby, who Coach Adam Oates said would be the starter coming out of the Olympic break, to be on their respective games.

It looks like Holtby is back in top form and you can credit that to the mutual decision to allow him to go back to the style that’s made him most successful in his career.

Notes: Alex Oveckhin had an assist and was +2 in 20:48 of ice time…John Carlson led Washington in ice time with 25:11…the Caps killed off all three New Jersey power plays but went 0 for 4 in their man advantage situations. Oates blamed that lack of PP success on poor reads, although the bad ice surface, due to an early basketball game, was a factor also, in my opinion.

After 40 minutes, things were looking bleak for the Washington Capitals. They were trailing the Winnipeg Jets, 2-1, and were being outplayed and out shot, 30-18. A loss would surely do major damage to any playoff hopes they still had remaining.

Luckily for the Caps, Braden Holtby, who was a surprise starter after Michal Neuvirth came down with an illness, was excellent in the cage (34 saves) and kept Washington in it.

Then, in the final frame, Washington played one of its’ best 20 minutes of the season totally dominating the Jets on the shot clock, 12-6, and more importantly, 3-0 on the scoreboard to get a much needed 4-2 victory.

The win moves the Caps to 26-23-9 (61 points) and keeps them three points out of a playoff spot.

Tom Wilson, Alexander Ovechkin, and Troy Brouwer all scored in the third period because the Capitals started moving their feet and going to the net. All four Washington tallies (Brouwer had the first one, as well) were from the Caps crashing the cage. That’s the way you have to score in the NHL because the goalies are so good.

The effort in the last period was excellent and makes you wonder why this team can’t do that more often despite some holes in the lineup?

Going into the game, the Caps called up rookie defensemen Patrick Wey and Julien Brouillette to replace a demoted Tyson Strachan (sent to Hershey) and a struggling John Erskine. Both of those guys did okay in their almost 15 minutes of ice time together and finished +2. Brouillette made a nice play to set up Wilson’s goal with Wey getting an assist on the tally, too. Those two blue liners played a simple game.

Ovechkin’s tally was his 40th of the season after Nicklas Backstrom (1 assist) was decked in the crease. It was a gritty goal and was the game winner. The Gr8 had nine shot attempts and four hits in this tilt in 20:35 of ice time.

The first 40 minutes were maddening, though. On the first Jets goal, Karl Alzner misplayed John Carlson’s (25:26 of ice time) pass around the boards and Martin Erat was late in coverage on Bryan Little. That allowed Little to get credit for the tally after Holtby stopped the initial shot following a nice pass from Andrew Ladd. The goal actually went in off of Erat’s skate. The second goal, the only marker of the second period, was even worse as both Washington defensemen were in position with Marcus Johansson skating back as the third forward. For some reason, MJ90 failed to turn around and find the third Jet up the ice, Dustin Byfuglien, and #33 received a pass from Devon Setoguchi in the slot and buried it, top shelf. Johansson, who did have two assists including a sweet feed to Brouwer on the fourth goal, has to be more alert and bear down defensively on those plays. Overall, Washington was a victim of not moving their feet in those first two periods.

But somehow they managed to find another gear in the final 20 minutes and save their playoff push, for now. Falling five points back, at this point, might be too much to overcome. They still have a rough road ahead to climb back into a playoff spot, especially if they perform like they did on Tuesday against New York and in the first 40 minutes versus Winnipeg.

Bottom line, over the last 24 games the team needs to be much more consistent and skate like they did in the third period if they want to make it into a seventh straight post season.

Notes: Connor Carrick and Dmitry Orlov were paired together and played just under 20 minutes of ice time…the Caps won the face off battle, 33-24…Wilson played 8:07 and I’d love to see Coach Adam Oates get him out there on the struggling Caps power play. Washington was 0 for 4 with the man advantage and they could use Wilson’s size and hands to shake things up…the Caps only took one minor penalty, that is a huge step in the right direction given their recent propensity to end up in the sin bin…next up are the New Jersey Devils on Saturday night at 8pm at the Verizon Center.